ExxonMobil and Chevron last week each informed U.S. customers of finished lubricant price hikes that take effect May 16, following earlier markups by Shell Lubricants and BP Lubricants USA. Several smaller and independent suppliers earlier instituted finished lube price increases taking effect during April and early May. ExxonMobil notified customers April 4 it would raise prices for its branded and unbranded lubricants and greases by up to 4 percent effective May 16. Different price treatment m...

Argentinas state-owned YPF halted production at its API Group I plant in La Plata last week after a heavy rainstorm flooded the refinerys interior and led to a fire in the refinerys coking unit. Officials expect the base oil plant to be back in operation later this month. Officials from YPF reported that firefighters and plant employees promptly contained the fire amid the April 2 rainstorm. According to news reports from Argentina and worldwide, the rainstorm caused extensive flooding, power o...

Q8 Oils is in the midst of building a new lubricant blending plant at the site of an existing plant in Antwerp, Belgium, officials said recently. The new facility, expected to open by the end of 2014, is designed to have 125,000 metric tons per year capacity. Officials said the plant is part of a broader plan to add storage capacity and increase the range of lubricants that the site can produce. Q8 Oils is the operating name for Kuwait Petroleum International Lubricants, a subsidiary of Kuwait...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will fine Oil Re-Refining Co. $450,000, unless it properly disposes of 150,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated oil by 2016. EPAs mandate, announced in an April 3 press release, is the settlement of a three-year-old case between the EPA and ORRCO. Oregon-based ORRCO purchases recyclable waste material that can be rerefined for a variety of uses, including finished lubricants and base oils. ORRCOs president Bill Briggs told Lube Report that his company rarel...

Industry sources say plans to relocate a Moscow-based specialty lubricants plant to make way for a railway line could jeopardize availability of lubes and specialty fluids used by Russias shipbuilding, aerospace, aviation and pharmaceutical industries. A city council that oversees Moscows transportation infrastructure recently asked the Russian government to relocate the low-tonnage capacity plant of Moscow Neftemaslozavod (MNMZ), the Izvestia daily reported last week. The plant was built in...

WD-40 reported $10.5 million in net income for the quarter ending Feb. 28, down 1 percent from the year-ago period, with net sales up 1 percent at $86.7 million. Earnings per share grew to 66 cents per diluted share in WD-40s fiscal second quarter, compared to 65 cents per share in the year-earlier period. San Diego-headquartered WD-40s fiscal year goes from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31. Second-quarter sales for WD-40 in the Americas declined 13 percent to $40.2 million, sales in Europe grew 16 percent ...

U.S. markets are relatively stable, but European markets are slow and rates are soft. Even the markets in Asia are quieter than they were back in March. U.S. Gulf of Mexico The number of spot cargo requirements has been pretty low in the U.S. sector, while the emphasis has been mostly on contractual volumes. The neatly balanced situation between demand and supply has caused rates to remain static across the entire region. The route from the U.S. Gulf to the east coast of South America, for ex...